title: Screening for MRSA: a flawed hospital infection control intervention.
abstract: Focusing hospital resources on a single antibiotic-resistant pathogen as a sole approach to infection control is inherently flawed. We applied attributable mortality principles to a basic model of bloodstream infections to outline the argument. Screening for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus alone made sense in the 1980s, but the ongoing emergence of vancomycin-resistant enterococci and antibiotic-resistant strains of gram-negative rods and Candida species, as well as the recognition of the value of team-based infection control programs, support a population-based approach.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Medical College of Virginia Campus, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, USA.
authors.forename: Richard P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Wenzel
authors.forename: Gonzalo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bearman
authors.forename: Michael B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Edmond
mesh_terms: D003428:Cross Infection / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000401:mortality / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D017053:Infection Control / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards*; D016106:Methicillin Resistance; D055624:Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000401:mortality / Q000517:prevention & control*; D014481:United States; D020713:Vancomycin Resistance